Process of and apparatus for dyeing textile fabrics



P. MIJERP.

May I3, 1930.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DYEJI-NG TEXTILE- FABRICS Filed July 5, 1924 4- Sheets-Sheet l 0 W 0 I I I W I M I M a I ME,

flttoznaq May 13, 1930. P. MIJER 1,758,234

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS;

Filed J uly 5. -1924 4 Sheets-Sheet INVENTQR BY f 1, /MM

4; ATTORNEY May 13, 1930. P. MIJER' 1,758,234

' PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DYHING TEXTILE FABRICS Filed July 5, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 R N 1 x m N3 2 I b in i; yfiIlln IMI L; I :E m I Hi i? v hl I l I i (\7 k I! w. M N N N 4 I! 1;: w D Q 51 Ln Q I g N Q n a Ev w I u g a R m Q m m N) N R: a N N fig N I; gvwwntoz May 13, 1930. P. MIJER 1,753,234

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS Filed July 5. 192,4 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 11 l it Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PIETER MIJ'EB, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE TWO-TONE CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF YORK PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR DYEING TEXTILE FABRICS Application filed July 5, 1924. Serial No. 724,262.

This invention relates to an improved process for dyeing or coloring fabrics such as textile fabrics or for dyeing or coloring any other articles, and relates more particularly to an improved process of dyeing materials or articles preferably in the form of a continuous web, such as continuous pieces of ribbons, silk, cotton, linen and the like; the process is also applicable to the coating of articles or materials with liquids of all classes and descriptions.

The invention also relates to improved apparatus for dyeing or coloring materials or articles, and more particularly to an improved apparatus for dyeing textile materials; the invention also relates to apparatus for uniformly coating webs of fabric or for uniformly coating articles. The invention further relates to improvements in the process and apparatus described in the copending applications Serial No. 692,762, filed February 14, 1924, now Patent No. 1,683,687, issued September 11, 1928; Serial No. 723,166, filed June th, 1924; Serial No. 725,100, filed 2 July 10, 1924; all relating to the art of dyeing or coloring fabrics, and to the fabrics made by the processes and apparatus thereof. Among the objects of the invention is to increase the efficiency of processes and ap- 30 paratus of this character by providing a process and apparatus whereby the article will be dyed and dried simultaneously; and whereby the dyeing will be carried on under desired high temperature conditions. Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of some preferred forms of the process and some pre ferred embodiments of the apparatus which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

' In the drawings Fig. 1 is a part section and part elevation along the line ba of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section taken on the line b-b of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 illustrates the atomizing means on an enlarged scale;

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a modification;

Fig. 6 illustrates a further modification;

Fig. 7 shows a pair of apparatus adapted the dye chamber and B represents the drying chamber heated by steambox 10 and heating coil 11 connected by suitable pipe connections to steam-pipe 12 and steam outlet 12 Dye chamber A is provided with atomizing means preferably comprising the airbrushes 13 of which five are at each side, three at the entering end and two at the exit end of the dye chamber. The atomizing means are hereby illustrated as air-brushes and are shown more particularly in Fig. 3;

these brushes are not located over the material but above a pair of troughs 14 located one at each side of the dye chamber and the brushes at one end are staggered relative to thebrushes at the other end to avoid overlapping of the stream issuing therefrom. Between said troughs 14 is steam-box 15 which extends substantially the entire length of the dye chamber, and over the upper arcuate surface of which passes a belt 16. This belt traverses the dye chamber and the drying chamber passing through transverse slots, those in the walls of .the dye chamber being bordered by steam-pipes 18, 18 connected together by steam-pipe 19, also suitably connected with steam-pipe 12. Belt 16 passes over rollers 20, 21; the material 22 and web 23 pass into the machine over rollers 24, 25, one or both of which may be suitably heated by connecting same to a source of steam supply in the manner usual in the art, roller 24 being preferably adjustable relative to the roller 25, and to that end being mounted in adjustable bearings 26 controlled by hand-wheel 27. Rollers 28, 29 driven at constant speed at the outlet end of the machine serve in some cases to draw the material through the ing the material through the machine can vary through a wide range, and the means herein shown are purely by way of example; the traversing means are adapted to the kind of fabric with the intent that the fabric shalllie substantially flat while it is passing through the d e chamber; tentering frames may be used or this purpose as in my copending application Serial No. 726,249, filed July 16, 1924, now Patent No. 1,609,376, is sued December 7, 1926.

The fabric may be drawn through the machine with tension, and to that end the rollers 24, 25 can serve as feed rollers, and may be driven from the shaft of roller 21 by means of removable chain 30 running over a removable sprocket 31 of roller 21 and a like sprocket (not shown) on roller 25; the speeds of the belt and rollers may be-varied by changin the sprockets. The belt 16 may run at t e same speed as the fabric and assists in keeping the fabric flat. Steam-box 15 is provided with transverse baflie plates 33 which are shorter than the transverse dimensions of the steam-box, so that the edge 34 of said baflie leaves an openin 35 between said edge and the side wall 0 the steambox; said baflies thus form a tortuous passage for the steam'in well-known manner; the steam-box is connected by pipe 36 to the source of steam supply and by another pipe 37 to a 'steam outlet. I provide the chamber with a double roof comprising the upper roof member 38 and the lower roof member 39, and between these members I provide the heating coil 40 connected with the main steam-pipe by pipe 41 controlled by valve 42; said coil is provided with a steam outlet 43; passage of steam into heating coil 11 is controlled by cock 44. The supply of steam to steam-box 10 is controlled by cock 46, and said steam-box 10 has a steam outlet 47. Steampipes 18, 18 are controlled by cocks 48 and provided with steam outlets 49; without tracing the passa e of steam from the main source of supp y it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the various steam heated portions of the apparatus will be connected with said sources of supply and outlets in the manner usual in the art. Rollers 20' 21', 28, 29 are suitably driven as illustrated diagrammatically herein and described more particularly in connection with the aforementioned patent application Serial No. 723,166, filed June 30,1924, and since this driving mechanism forms no part of my invention, same will not be described in detail; sufiice it to say that said rollers 28, 29 are driven at the desired constant speed to draw the material through. the dyeing chamber and the drying chamber, which speed can be varied at will.

Referring to Fig. 3, the air-brush 13' is mounted upon the bar 50 attached to the transverse wall of the chamber and is reg- I ulable by needle valve member 51; the operaable for running substantially cold or hot; that is to say, the apparatus can be employed for carrying out the process described in said copending application, or heat may be supplied by the steam-box 15 (and sometimes coil 40) to carry on the process under hot. conditions. When employing the apparatus for use under hot conditions, the belt 16 or web 23 may be dispensed with, or both the belt and web may be dispensedwith, in which case the fabric will run along the upper surface of the steam-box 15 which should be sufficiently smooth to offer no substantial resistance.

In accordance with the process of the present invention, I continuously form a color cloud in said chamber in the manner described in my said copending application, and I continuously supply heat to the material as it is passing throtwh the chamber by means of steam passing fiirough the bed 15 which thoroughly heats the under surface of the material, while some heat is also imparted to the material as it enters the machine by means of the pipe 18 located at the entering end of the machine. Furthermore,

the coil in the roof also tends to heat the chamber. Owing to the fact that the roof is heated, I can provide a chamber of given dimensions with a large number of airbrushes, and make a very dense cloud, and in some cases I may use a cloud which is sub stantially wetter than the cloud described in the aforementioned copending application Serial No. 723,166, filed June 30, 1924. Furthermore, the under-surface of the material being heated by the steam-box 15, the dye is prevented from penetrating too far into the material, even though a large cloud of colorin matter is contained in the chamber A.

Ily hot process permits of coloring the material with dark shades of color, and 'in some cases it permits of operating at a higher speed than when the machine is used in a colder condition. The .steam supply to drying chamber B may be shut off, when the apparatus is operating on the hot process, as the" material will leave the dye chamber A in substantially dry condition. Where the apparatus is designed for use only in connection with the hot process, the drying chamber may be dispensed with. It will be noted that the coil 11 in. said dr-ying chamber is located .close to the top surface of the material passing through the drying chamber, and insures the thorough drying of said surface. The rollers 24, 25 may be employed to pre-heat thematerial.

It will be noted that the air-brushes 13 are connected by conduits 52 with the dye tanks 53 and by conduits 54 with the headers 55 leading to air-pipe 56 connected with a source of compressed air, liquid carbonic gas,

or the like. At the other end of said header 55 I have shown a connection 57 to a steam superheater 58, said connection 57 being controlled by valve 59 and the superheater being connected to a source of steam supply 60. By this means the brushes may be connected to a source of dry superheated steam and operated by said steam instead of compressed air or other cold medium; owing to the. heat of the chamber and the'presence of steam within the chamber, the use of this dry superheated steam also tends to set the dye at the same time that the dye is applied to the material.

Operation of apparatus.-The fluid medium is supplied at any desired pressure which pressure can be varied according to the depth of coloring to be produced in the dyeing operation; in the form of air-brushes here illustrated, the dye in liquidform in the container 46 is drawn into the air-brushes by aspiration; the liquid dye is prepared in the same manner as in the usual vat dyeing process, but the solution may in some cases be very strongly concentrated and should be carefully strained; it can be used either hot or cold. The air-brush is regulated so as to produce a stream of minute particles of liquid dye held in suspension in the air, with either some or all of the brushes in operation, depending upon the depth of color re.- quired, a dense cloud soon forms in the apparatus. adjusted by the needle valves 51 and individual brushes or the entire battery of brushes can be cut off or turned on simultaneously by means of cocks 51 and the cock 52. The liquid particles in the cloud begin to settle upon the material as it passes through the chamber and colors it on one side thereof. The under-surface of the material is, in accordance with this embodiment of my process, heated by means of the steambox 15 while the upper surface of the material is heated at its entering end by steampipe 18 and also if desired by steam rollers 24 and 25. As a result, when the material leaves said chamber it is substantially dry and this drying is assisted by the pipe 18 at the outlet end of the machine which is substantially close to the upper surface of t fabric and continues the drying effect on the up er surface; by continuously heating the un er-surface of the material as it passes over the steam-box 15, the extent of penetration of the dye into the material can be controlled and a very heavy deposition of dye can take place so that the machine can operate at the desired speeds. By heating the roof, the air-brushes can'be located in close Each brush can be individually for carrying out the process described in my copending application, Serial No. 723,166, filed June 30, 1924, the steam-box 15 will be disconnected from the source of steam supply, and steam can be supplied to the coil 40 in the roof if it is desired to operate the highest set of brushes; in this case the steam box 10 and coil 11 will be connected with the steam supply, and the material passing through the drying chamber will be dried on both its top and bottom surfaces.

In order to make the dye chamber sufficiently hot, it may sometimes be desirable not only to heat the roof but also to heat the side walls; an arrangement of this character is illustrated in Fig. 6 in which steam coils 63 are arranged within the hollow walls 64,

chamber is not heated, as it is in the embodimentdescribed above. The transverse walls which border the fabric terminate in the steam-pipes 66 similar to steam-pipes 18 of Fig. 1, said pipes 66 being connected togetherby steam pipes 61 connected to a source of steam supply, not shown.

Fig. 7 illustrates a continuous process and apparatus for dyeing the material on both sides thereof and comprises dye chambers A, A arranged one above the other, these corresponding to the dye chambers of Fig. 1 or of said copending application, Serial No. 723,166. The material 1 passes between heating and pressing rollers-24, 25 throughdye chamber A, drying chamber B and rollers 28, 29 of the firstapparatus, then through slot 68 in floor 69 supporting said first apparatus, between lower rollers 24, 25, dye chamberA, drying chamber B and rollers 28, 29 of second apparatus. In passing from the first apparatus to-the second apparatus, the fabric is reversed by the relative positions of rollers 28, 29 of the first apparatus and rollers 24, 25 of the second apparatus, so that one side of the fabric is presented to the upper apparatus and the other surface to the lower apparatus; the various rollers are suitably power-driven to produce the continuous passage of the material through both apparatus at the desired tension.

I have illustrated a modified form of the invention in Figs. 4 and 5 in which the width of the dye chamber is only slightly greater than the width of the material; the chamber comprises longitudinal walls 200 and transverse walls 201; at the bottom of each wall 200 is a steam-pipe 202 connected with the transverse pipes 203, which are arranged at the inlet and outlet of the dye "chamber above the slots 8. Said chamber has an ex-' tension 204 which overlies the drying extension B; said extension has a double-walled roof 206 heated by pipes 207; the pipes 202 and 203 prevent the liquid particles condensing on the walls 200, 201 from falling on the fabric, and heating coil 207 prevents formation of drops on the roof 206. The end wall 208 of extension 204 is provided with a battery of air brushes 209 arranged in staggered relation, and beneath said'brushes is provided a tray 210 to catch the drippings, said tray being supported upon roof 211 of the drying chamber B. Thesteam-box 212 of the drying chamber here illustrated diagrammatically has two drying faces,

these being respectively the upper face 212 and the lower face 213; in this form of the invention the conveyer belt 16 passes beneath the steam-box instead of over it, as in Figs. 1 to 6, while the material 1 passes over the top of the steam-box. The belt 16 issuing from the dye chamber passes over a roller 215 journalled in the bottom of said chamber, thence over roller217 in the steam-box frame, thence through slot 218 in outer wall 219 of drying chamber, over rollers 220, 221, and

thence back in the same manner as illustrated in Fig. 1; I have not illustrated the various driving mechanisms and other parts herein, since they will be substantially the same as in Fig. 1. Fan 222 arranged on the roof 223 is provided with an outlet 224 through which air may be gently directed downwardly to tend to cause the particles to fall upon the will remain the color it was before it entered the machine; where the piece of goods is dyed in a vat a determined color, say yellow, and exposed to a color cloud, say red, the result will be a pleated fabric one face of which is orange and yellow stripes, while the other face thereof is yellow; if the other face thereof is exposed to a blue color cloud it will present alternate green and yellow stripes. An ombre effect is produced by passing the,material through the machine using only the brushes on one side of the machine;

as a result the cloud will be. denser on one side of the dye chamber than it is on the and the brushes on the other side of the dye chamber produce a spray of a different color, these clouds are kept substantially apart by means of the partition wall. The steampipe at the bottom of this wall prevents drops from falling from thewall on to the material. The steam pipe must be spaced sufficiently far above the fabric so as not to leave a band on the fabric; in the zone below said wall, the two color clouds intermingle and deposit graduated color; variations in colored-effects can also be produced without the use of this intervening partition if the brushes on one side run with'one color and the brushes on the other run with a different color. Ombre effects are also produced with the brushes telial. By varying thecross-sectional shape of these pipes bands of varying width can be produced upon the material.

I also produce a two-tone fabric by taking any fabric which has been suitably dyed by an ordinary vat dyeing process and subjectmg it to treatment by. a color cloud in the dye chamber A. Thus, I may take a material colored yellow by vat dyeing, and subject it to a red cloud, thereby producing an orange surface on one side, while the other surface remains yellow.

I may also take white material, and treat it with the color cloud so as to get different tones on different sides thereof. Thus, I may color one side of a piece of white material red without coloring the other side thereof,

and the red from the side which has been 001- ored by the color cloud will show pink on the other side. I

I may obtain valuable effects in the dyeing of materials consisting of a mixture of animal and vegetable fibres, for instance, a mixture design, with the result that the color of the design will be brought out in contrast with the color of the ground. The other surface of the fabric may be dyed with an entirely different color which also afiects the artificial silk forming the design difierently from the way it affects the natural silk surface, thus producing a fabric having two contrasting ground colors with designs of colors differing in shade from said ground colors; however, instead of dyeing the other surface with a dye which differentiates the artificial silk design from the natural silk ground, a dye may be selected which has substantially the same effect both on the artificial silk and on the natural silk, so that the fabric will present the pleasing appearance of having grounds of different colors on each side thereof, with the design of the artificial silk in a different tone on one side thereof but in substantially the same tone as the ground on the other side thereof. i

Novel effects may be obtained by printing on the fabric, especially where the design is printed on the fabric with a color which is either the same or substantially lighter than the color of one of the faces of the fabric; as a result, the fabric presents the appearance of being printed on one side with contrasting colors, but on the other side the printing produces a shadow eifect or is substantially eliminated. One side of the material may be colored with a color cloud of direct dye and the other side of the material with a color cloud of basic dye, and the design on the material may be printed by extracting; as a result, the printing will only appear on one side, but not substantially on the other, and if it does appear on the other side, it will be with a different color effect.

It will be understood that these effects described herein can be obtained with the apparatus described herein, with or without the use of the steam-box 15; that is tosay, irrespective of whether or not the material is dried at the same time that it is exposed to ing has taken place, in order to set the dye. The fabric may also be given any preliminary or final treating or finishing operations common to the art. With some classes of material I prefer t feed a web under the material, which web passes through the dye chamber and also through the drying chamber as illustrated in Fig. 1-. The heating pipes18 which prevent the dye on the walls from falling on the material, also serve to dry the material as it passes out of the machine and preheat the material as it passes into the machine. I sometimes pass a stencil web 154 alongwith the fabric, as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 6. This stencil web has portions of the design cut out therefrom, and is dried as it passes out of the machine; moreover, as it moves along at exactly the same speed as the material and does not shift relative thereto, a desirable stencilling'efi'ect is produced.

It is to be noted that in Fig. 1 the fabric being treated, and the openings through which it enters and leaves the dye chamber, are purposely shown on an exaggerated scale, for the sake of clearness.

The improved process and apparatus has been described herein with reference to a number of preferred embodiments thereof, and I wish it to be understood that the invention is capable of embodiment in a large number of different forms and that the claims which follow are to be construed broadly and not limmaterial is herein described and illustrated it is to be understood that any form of traversing mechanism commonly employed in the textile industry may be used in place thereof, as for example, tentering frame mechanism which stretches the material as it passes through the dye chamber.

What I claim is 1. A dyeing or coloring apparatus including a dye chamber, means for forming a color cloud in said chamber and means for evaporating liquid matter deposited on the walls of said chamber. I

2. A dyeing or coloring apparatus -comprising-a dye chamber, means forformin a color cloud in said chamber, and means for heating the roofof said chamber.

,3. A dyeing or coloring ap aratus comsaid chamber.

4. The process of dyein a fabric consistin in traversing the fabric with surfaces thereo exposed to a color cloud while heating the fabric. I

5. The process of applying liquid matter uniformly tomaterials which consists in forming a cloud of finely divided particles of the liquid matter, separating heavier particles or drops from the lighter particles of said cloud, and traversing the material under the separated lighter particles of said cloud while heating the material.

'6. The process of coloring materials consisting in continuously atomizing coloring matter in one locality and continuously moV- ing the material to be colored with a face exposed to said cloud in said locality while applying heat to said material.

7. The process of dyeing consisting in exposing one side of the material to a color cloud and the other side to heat.

- 8. The process of dyeing consisting in applying the dye in the form of a cloud of extremely-fine particles upon the surface of a moving web of fabric and simultaneously heating the fabric.

9. A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising a dye chamber, means for forming a color cloud in said chamber, means for traversing fabric through said chamber to receive color from said cloud,.and means for heating the material as it passes through the chamber.

10. A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising a chamber, means for forming a color cloud in said chamber, means for traversing the material through said chamber, and heating means located at the lower portion of said chamber and forming a path over which the material traverses.

11. A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising means for forming a color cloud,

means for traversing the material relative to the color cloud, and means for heating the material as it traverses the color cloud.

A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising means for forming a color cloud, means for traversing a material relative to the color cloud, and heating means in proximity 17. The process of dyeing permeable textile material consisting in exposing the material to a cloud of fine particles of liquid coloring matter in suspension in steam whlle heatin said material.

18. dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising a dye chamber, means for heating said chamber, means for traversing the material through said chamber, means for heating the material as it passes through said chamber, and means for forming a color cloud of steam and liquid particles in suspension in said chamber.

19. The process of dyeing textile materials, comprising exposing the material to a heated color-cloud.

20. A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising means for forming a color-cloud, means for heating the cloud, and means for exposing the material to the heated cloud,

21. The process of dyeing textile mater al comprising exposing one side of the material to a color-cloud in the presence of heat, and thereafter steaming the material.

' 22. The process of dyeing absorbent textile material comprising traversing a web of the material while simultaneously steaming it in the presence of dye.

23. The processof dyeing textile material comprising traversing the web while steaming it in the presence of dye, and thereafter steaming the material.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' PIETER MIJER.

with said material as it traverses the color cloud.

A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprlsmg means for forming a color cloud, heating means, and means for traversing the material with one surface thereof exposed to the color cloud and the other surface thereof exposed to-the heating means.

A dyeing or coloring apparatus compr sing a dye chamber, means for heating said chamber, means for forming a color cloud in said chamber, a drying chamber, means for traversing the material to be dyed through the dyeing chamber and the drying chamber, and means for heating the upper surface of the material as it passes through the drying chamber.

A dyeing or coloring apparatus comprising a dye chamber, means for forming a color cloud, and means for heating said 

